Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/281

Rh and making light thereof; he did this with one of the heads of the Cerberus in the group of the Orpheus; and to the San Piero, which is in Santa Maria del Fiore, he joined on a piece of the drapery. In the Griant of the Piazza, Baccio likewise made two of these joinings, as may be seen, putting a shoulder and a foot to the figure of Cacus, to say nothing of many other works, wherein he did the same thing, but these are proceedings which are much condemned by sculptors.

Having finished the statues here named, Baccio set hand to that of Pope Leo X., also for this work, and with that he made considerable progress. But as he now saw that the work was a very long one, and that he should never be able to bring his first design, in respect to the façades to be constructed entirely around the Palace, to bear, seeing too that a great sum of money and much time had been already spent, while the work was nevertheless not half finished, and gave but little satisfaction to the community, he began to project other undertakings, and did his utmost to lead the Duke away from his purpose as regarded the palace, the rather as it appeared to him that his Excellency was become weary of that work and took little pleasure in it.

Having made many enemies therefore in the house of the wardens of works, where he claimed to govern all, and where he had offended the Proveditores as well as the builders, stone-cutters, and every one else, treating all the statues executed there, for the purpose of being placed in the audiencechamber, entirely after his own fashion, those finished and set up as well as those which were but sketched, he began to suggest to the Duke, by way of concealing the many defects committed, and making gradual preparation for the ultimate abandonment of the whole work, that the Administration of Works to Santa Maria del Fiore was but throwing away his money, and no longer did any thing that was of the least value. He added that, things being thus, he had been considering how much better it would be for his Excellency to spare all the expenses so uselessly caused by the Ad-